From the beginning, non-alignment was never a uni-dimensional concept. It was a composite policy consisting of a number of fundamental elements. In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, the objectives of non-alignment are "the pursuit of peace, not through alignment with another major power or groups of powers but through an independent approach to each controversial or disputed issue, the liberation of subject peoples, the maintenance of national and international freedom, the abolishing of racial discrimination and elimination of want, disease and ignorance which afflict greater part of world's population."
Nehru was thinking in terms of humanity. He wanted to make non-alignment a positive instrument in the hands of humanity. This particular aspect will have to be kept in mind.
Meaningful "Detente"
With the changing world situation, it is only appropriate that different facets of non-alignment may receive emphasis at different times. However, to suggest that any element of non-alignment has become irrelevant to the contemporary reality is, to my mind, incorrect. I am making this point because there is a line of argument in the world today that the "cold war" era has come to an end. May he, yes; possibly, "cold war" may have come to an end but the point is whether the basic situation has changed. I would certainly put a big question mark before it in the sense whether there is a complete sense of stability in all the developing countries. Can we say that with confidence?
The world has changed since the first non-aligned summit in Belgrade in 1961. Yet we are far from a stage where the world is without war, without want and without conflict or tension. In this changed and constantly changing world, the versatile concept of non-alignment is even more relevant now than it was in 1961.
It is true that the powers which confronted each other earlier have now embarked on the path of relaxation of tensions. I have not used the word detente here because some people are becoming allergic to the word. We have welcomed this positive development.